Spring Branch high schoolers can begin electrician apprenticeship through new career-training program

By Jaimy Jones, jjones@chron.com

Updated 4:24 pm, Monday, July 24, 2017

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Spring Branch ISD, SBISD

Spring Branch ISD, SBISD

Photo: Spring Branch ISD

Spring Branch high schoolers can begin electrician apprenticeship through new career-training program

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Spring Branch Independent School District's career training program is getting a jolt this fall with the start of a new electrician apprenticeship course offered to juniors and seniors that will allow them to complete two of four years required toward a professional certification, all before they graduate.

The electrician course work takes place at the district's Career and Technical Education Center, CTE, known as the Guthrie Center, where work is being done to the tune of $50,000 to outfit the classroom where the lessons will be taught by a master electrician.

The program will allow students to get a two-year jump on a four-year track to sit for a journeyman's license with the State of Texas as an electrician. The state requires at least 8,000 hours of work experience to sit for the exam. With a regular 40-hour per week job, that's almost four years of employment. If a student completed the Spring Branch ISD program as designed, once they graduate, they would only have two years left before they could become licensed.

"It's really a win-win for the partnerships and the kids because we were able to identify about 50 juniors this year, and when they get to be seniors, we'll identify 50 more juniors," said Sablatura.

So far, at least one student from each Spring Branch district high school has signed up for the initial courses.

The partnership is with TRIO Electric located in East Spring Branch near Hempstead Road.

TRIO's President, Beau Pollock, approached the school district with the idea to offer the professional apprenticeship to high school students to fill a need the firm has for skilled electricians and electrical engineers.

TRIO is a Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation approved Apprenticeship site and has provided one of their master electricians to teach the course at the Guthrie Center. The curriculum continues through the summer break with an internship at TRIO in order to stay on track with the required number of hours.

The company hopes to hire some of the graduates as they move through the apprenticeship hours, and finally as a licensed electrician.

TRIO isn't the only construction services firm having a hard time filling job openings, though.

A National Association of Homebuilders 2016 survey found, "The share of builders reporting either some or a serious shortage has skyrocketed from a low of 21 percent in 2012, to 46 percent in 2014, 52 percent in 2015, and now 56 percent in 2016. The shortages have harmed builders' abilities to both form their own workforces, and hire subcontractors, such as bricklayers and electricians. The net result, according to the 2016 survey, is that 75 percent of builders say they've had to pay higher wages and bids, 64 percent have delayed projects, and 68 percent have raised home prices."

"This is a school-to-work program, and for some families, they're seeing this as a great way for their kids to move into a career and start early," said Sablatura.

"And this opportunity isn't just limited to students who want to be a journeyman, TRIO also needs electrical engineers. A lot of those apprenticeships are hard to come by we're really excited about it and we can't wait to get started, we're just weeks away from kicking it off."